The First Maraud
by FredNeverDied
Summary: Moony-the quiet, bookish introvert; Wormtail-the timid, tagalong yes-man; Padfoot-the loud, shameless rebel; and Prongs-the confident, charismatic romantic. Who would think boys so different could become friends? Surely they were brought together by something great. Something terrifying. Exhilarating. Something to change a boy forever. Something like the events of that first maraud
1. New Territory

_**The First Maraud  
**__New Territory_

The silvery castle loomed up in a pale-washed silhouette against the inky black sky, the depths scattered with distant stars. Here and there along the castle walls and towers, a few miniscule squares of yellow showed that indeed there were some whose lights were still on, as they rejoiced the return to their school and their friends after the long summer holiday. But as the moon rose and time stretched on into the wee hours, even the most raucous celebrators turned off their lights, till the entire school was doused only in the light of the moon. One may have thought that the comfortable darkness meant all were in bed; but one, little, eleven-year old boy sat curled on a window ledge in Gryffindor Tower, too excited to sleep, eyes flicking over the silver-frosted landscape.

Sirius Black sat by himself; huddled in an old, stretched jumper; gazing restlessly at the moonlit Hogwarts grounds. He'd had trouble sleeping for as long as he could remember—a problem of having too much energy and too little daylight—but his insomnia was always particularly active in strange places. And this foreign dormitory was _definitely_ strange.

Then again, strange places didn't have to _stay_ strange, did they…?

He was currently _itching_ to explore this new territory—a place as old as the ancient school just _had_ to have secrets, right? And secrets were _meant_ to be discovered…

Of course, the headmaster, Dumbledore, had said something about no one being allowed out of bed after hours, but, come now, this was the _first night_! It was _meant_ to start off with a bang. And besides, if he _did_ sneak out, it wasn't like he'd be caught—who'd expect to find a little first year sneaking around on the first night of the semester?

The only real matter then, was who would be his partner in the excursion; he'd learned that experiences were always better when there was somebody to share them with. Sirius offered a cursory glance to the three other boys in his dorm.

The closest one was Remus Lupin: a quiet kid (always the type you should look out for, it was a dead giveaway the kid was plotting something) with brown hair and some suspicious scars on his face and hands. Scars like that meant the kid could go a number of ways, and while Sirius pitied almost anybody (non-inclusive to his family) who had a problem of self-mutilation, what if the bloke was violent? Sirius didn't doubt that he could take the other boy on in a fair fight, but what if his back was turned...? No, better not. If there was anything he'd learned growing up in a pureblood household, trust was key. Best not to take his chances on this first go. Plus, Lupin had paid an unhealthy amount of respect and attention to the Headmaster during his speech, which cancelled out with the Violent Theory, but still set off warning bells in Sirius' mischievous mind.

So Lupin: Quiet (red flag), scarred up (cause: to be investigated) and an authority/rule-worshipper. Moving on.

Peter Pettigrew was next-also quiet, but timid instead of reserved like Remus. He was that awed, wide-eyed, stereotypical firstie who seemed to be constantly nervous and easily confused—Sirius had seen him start panicking when they'd been dismissed from the Great Hall and entered the tumult of kids. The small, mousy boy had nibbled his fingertips raw by the time they reached the Common Room.

_Definitely_ not excursion material then.

Which left James Potter. Sirius grinned. He'd met the other dark-haired boy on the train and was sure they were kindred spirits before the four-hour journey was over. They hadn't spoken much at the feast; there'd been too many other things to focus on: the food, other students,the food, the castle, the food, and stories from the older students about their new school. And the food.

Sirius slid off the window ledge and over to James' bedside; and not-so-gently prodded him awake.

"Hey Potter," he whispered, "Up for an adventure?"

"Mm—wha?" James mumbled in response.

"I'm sneaking out, you coming?"

James scrunched his face up.

"Go away Da', it's early," he muttered.

"Potter!" Sirius huffed, "I am not your dad and I am not going away!"

James only sighed and rolled over, groggily batting away Sirius' further attempts to wake him. Sirius huffed in frustration and grabbed one of James' extra pillows.

"_Oi!_" he hissed, beating James over the head with it, "Wake _up_, Potter!" It was only after the matter that he realized this may not have been the best idea, seeing as James suddenly sat bolt upright and loudly grumbled, "_Bloody hell!_" He blinked angrily at Sirius, who missed the glare by turning to be sure the others hadn't woken. The Lupin boy had blearily turned over and Pettigrew gave an even larger snore, but neither woke. Sirius turned back to James, who, now that he'd gotten his bearings, didn't seem very pleased.

"Black," he said in a dangerously quiet voice, "Do you want to explain to me why I'm being assaulted with my own pillow in the middle of the night?"

"I want to sneak out," Sirius whispered, now feeling very foolish.

"And you expected me to go with you at..." he checked his bedside clock, "_Twelve-forty_ at night!?"

Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"I didn't think the other blokes were the type to have much fun."

James glanced over their fellow dorm mates and grunted.

"I'll give you that much," he muttered. "But you said you wanted to go exploring around the castle?" Sirius couldn't be sure, but now that the other boy was more awake, he seemed to have a mischievous look in his eyes. Sirius nodded solemnly. James' face immediately split into a grin and Sirius felt a wave of relief—he'd guessed right about this kid.

"Why didn't you just say so?" James whispered excitedly, swinging his legs over the side of the mattress.

"Maybe because he thought you would know it was _against the rules_," said a different voice.

Sirius groaned at the same time as James and they turned to see the Lupin boy peering at them from the foot of his bed.

"…But obviously not." Lupin went on, "You know, I had pegged you two to be troublemakers. Seems as though I was right."

"Well," James huffed, "I'd pegged _you_ to be an eleven year old yourself, but now I'm not so sure. A little uptight there, aren't you?"

Sirius snorted while Lupin colored and started stammering,

"Just because I think you shouldn't be trying to start trouble just for the fun of it doesn't…"

"…Make you a self-respecting male child," Sirius finished, "Yes, we'd established that."

"Nice one," James said approvingly. Sirius grinned and continued,

"However," he said, "No one's asking you to come along, so we'll just be going…You should get a jumper, this place is drafty. I'm getting an extra one for myself." This last bit was directed to James, who nodded and began rummaging around in his trunk.

A moment later, with jumpers in hand, they turned towards the door; only to see that the brown-haired lad was now standing in front of it, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed. James raised his eyes heavenward and Sirius huffed.

"Look," he said, "We get it that you like to think you're right and, fine, you are. We are horrible, rule-breaking heathens and you have the higher moral ground for telling us what bad little boys we are and not partaking in our fun. All hail Remus Lupin for being blameless…Now let us pass you."

Lupin rolled his eyes.

"No thanks," he said, before surprising them both with, "I want to come _with_ you."

"What!?" James cried just as Sirius said,

"Absolutely not! You're just trying to get us caught!

"What?!" It was Lupin's turn to be shocked. "I'd never-that's horribly petty!"

"Horribly petty!" Sirius mimicked, "I'd say no just because you _talk_ like that! Why do you even _want_ to come?"

Lupin licked his lips but answered without dropping his gaze.

"Because of what you said just before getting your jumpers. I'm not all that uptight."

So this was an apology, or at least, as close an apology as they would get. Sirius could respect that, but it didn't make him like Lupin. After all, the apology _was_ because he'd started out as a raincloud on their parade.

"I'm not going to take this from you for the next seven years," Lupin continued evenly. "I'm setting the bar."

Sirius arched an eyebrow and was about to refuse him when James sighed.

"Fine," said James, "But if you're just trying to get us all caught…"

"No!" cried Lupin, sounding more offended that James would suggest such a thing a second time. "I told you, I wouldn't!"

James turned to Sirius, mischief coming back into his hazel eyes as though he didn't realize he'd just invited the killjoy along to their fun.

"Works for me, then," said James, grinning, "He says it's petty and he's right. And if he _does_ screw this up, we'll annoy him for it for the next seven years."

"I'm still here you know," said Lupin, raising his voice a little.

"…I _suppose_ that'd work," Sirius said, ignoring Lupin, "We could either discard him or throw him under the bus for the rest of our time at Hogwarts. It all depends on whether not he royally screws this up tonight."

"_I'm still here you know_," Lupin said louder.

"…Blame pranks on him, borrow his homework, take his clean clothes…," James continued.

"I'm not entirely _beyond_ being petty, in case you were wondering…"

"…And steal his girlfriends." Sirius finished with a grin.

"_OY!_" cried Lupin.

"Not _so_ loud now…" James started to say, but it was too late.

"Hey," said a fourth voice, this one very heavy with sleep and sounding a little sad, "Where are you guys going?"

"Nowhere," James and Sirius said immediately.

"Out," said Lupin. Pettigrew seemed to grow more awake at that.

"Out _where_?" he asked, sitting up and squinting blearily at them. Again, Lupin spoke up before James or Sirius could stop him.

"We wanted to see what the castle looks like at night. We're not going far—_Ow!_" He turned and glared furiously at Sirius, who had just stomped on his foot.

"_What?_" Lupin mouthed to him furiously.

"You're gonna leave me here all alone?" whined Pettigrew, his scared voice cracking. Sirius rolled his eyes at Lupin and jerked his head at Pettigrew.

"_That!_" he mouthed back.

"No, no," said James, moving closer to the boy's bedside and using a sweeter, softer voice. "I'll stay here with you. Go back to sleep." He glanced back at the other boys and shrugged as if to say, '_whatever works_'.

"Why can't he come too?" Lupin whispered, "Whatever happened to 'the more the merrier'?"

"What happened to 'keep your mouth shut'?" Sirius hissed, for lack of a better comeback. "Look at him, he's gonna wet himself with the first sign of excitement and cry for his mum."

Lupin glared at him.

"He _did_ make it into Gryffindor, you know," he said, "If this is _my_ beta test, why not make it _his_ too?"

"Because we should only have _one_ variable…"

"I can hear you," said Pettigrew, his voice cracking again. "You're going to leave me here alone, aren't you?" Sirius let his chin bounce against his chest in despair but when he looked up, he saw that James was giving him a strange look. His mouth was crooked as if he felt guilty for leaving the other boy since they _had_ woke him up and involved him, and his eyes were entreating Sirius that they bring him along.

If Sirius had then known what that "Come on, we owe it to _[insert name here]_ to include them in _[insert activity here]_: what's one more?" look would get him into for the rest of his Hogwarts career, he would have cancelled the whole mission then and there and never spoken to any of his dorm mates again. But for now, and for the next seven years ahead, the desperately entreating, benevolently mischievous look could convince the Black to do anything James wanted.

Sirius sighed, a nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him he would live to regret this.

"_Fine_," he groaned. "Pettigrew comes too."

* * *

_So this is an idea that I've been siting on for a long, long time. I always wondered how Pettigrew was included as a Marauder in the first place. I'm sure he was more likeable when he was younger, but how did he keep up with those three charismatic characters? Why'd they choose him to begin with? I'm gonna try to explain that in this story. Should be four-five chapters long. Hope you all enjoy! Drop me a review with complements/criticism/preferably not death threats._

_~Freddie_


	2. Marked Territory

I realize that the boys aren't really talking or acting like eleven year olds but quite frankly, eleven year olds are _boring_. I don't _want_ to write as one; I already _live_ with one. (Sorry Jeb.) Just, no fussing on their age inaccuracy. Please.

* * *

_**The First Maraud  
**__Marked Territory_

"It's Peter," the boy mumbled as he dragged himself out of bed.

"Sure Pete," said Sirius, still waiting impatiently by the door. In that moment he vowed to himself to never, ever call Pettigrew by his preferred full first name. This kid was already annoying him and if that name was what he insisted on, well, then Sirius simply wouldn't comply.

The three other boys remained by the door in varying degrees of tolerance as Pettigrew ambled about, pulling on his socks, then his shoes, then his jumper, then a second jumper, then splashed some water on his face, then combed through his hair, and generally tried to delay the forage as long as possible. So he wanted to go with them, sure, but it was only because he was afraid of being alone. His motives had nothing to do with a desire to sneak about and have fun.

When he finally reached forwards to smooth his bed clothes out; even Remus snapped.

"Alright, alright," said Remus, "We're coming back; you don't need to remake the whole bed. Let's just hurry along now."

"Alright," said Peter reluctantly, but not before swiping his hand across the sheets once more.

_Great_, thought Sirius, _a passive resister_.

But all the same, the four boys stole out of the room together and down into the deserted Common Room.

"Little creepy at night, huh?" said James, grinning around himself like a kid in a candy store at the uncannily silent Common Room.

"Only if you let it be," said Remus brusquely, "All that's in your mind. The real danger is getting caught. Which we can't do in here." He was leading the way towards the portrait whole as he spoke. "Well gentlemen. Are we going to have an adventure or sit in this dark room?"

"Adventure," James and Sirius said together, following him. Sirius had to say, Remus wasn't so bad now. Maybe he was just grumpy and annoying right after he'd woken up.

_Mental To-Do List_: _Reassess Remus_. Preferably sometime after one o'clock in the morning. Perhaps even a few hours after the sun had come up.

But _Pettigrew_ on the other hand…

"Come on then," Sirius said gruffly, turning to the boy who was hanging back. Peter took one last longing look behind him, as if perhaps he wanted to return to the dorm room, regardless of being left alone, when he squared his shoulders and marched after Remus.

"Alright," he said, "Alright, I'm coming."

Surprised, and a little bit relieved that this lad wasn't a complete and _total_ waste, Sirius went after him, following up as the rear. He had just stepped down into the hallway when, from directly behind them, a stern voice suddenly said,

"_And just _where_ do you think you're going!?_"

Pettigrew immediately lost any points he'd just gained, shrieked with terror, and leapt backwards into Sirius, knocking the two of the down. Sirius clapped a hand over the boy's mouth, but he knew it was too late.

Someone _had_ to have heard that.

He looked up to see the Fat Lady glaring down at the lot of them.

"I—" Sirius flustered, "We were—ah…"

"The _kitchens_," James invented immediately. "We wanted to go to the kitchens. You, uh, you see my friend here (He threw an arm around Remus and gave him the chummiest of squeezes, as though they'd been bosom buddies since birth) is absolutely _starving_."

Remus instantly wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"_Ugh_," he grunted pitifully, "'M _so_ hungry."

_Reassessment of Remus Result:__ Positive._ Sirius officially liked this kid.

The Fat Lady crossed her arms.

"There was a _feast_ for that purpose, you know. Don't think I'm so oblivious as to not be aware of the major functions of the school."

"Oh of _course_ not, ma'am!" Remus said, still gasping and clutching his belly. "We know full well how connected you are. But you see, I was just so nervous about being Sorted and starting at a new school and meeting all these new people and trying to be accepted that I was simply _too_ anxious to eat."

"I'm sure you ate at least _some_thing on the train," said the Fat Lady, though her tone was significantly gentler. "You'll be fine till the morning. Back to bed, all four of you."

Sirius took this opportunity to let out a very convincing _growwwwllll_. He was grateful he was directly beneath the Fat Lady's two-dimensional nose and that she couldn't see him.

"Oh _oww…_" Remus moaned. "Did you _hear_ that? Could hear my _pain_?"

"_Groowwwwllll_…" Sirius whined again.

"Listen to him," said James, putting a hand on Remus' hunched-over back. "All because the poor boy was so nervous about acceptance. Surely—_surely_—you would accept him. Surely you would help us?"

There was a moment's silence and Sirius was just about to _growwlll_ again when the Fat Lady sighed.

"Oh alright," she huffed. "I can tell you're milking it for all it's worth, but if you really are _that _hungry…?"

"_groowwlll_…" Sirius moaned pitifully.

And the Fat Lady caved.

"_Fine_," she sighed. "Go on then. But if you get caught, you can't blame me."

"Yes ma'am," said James grinning. "And we won't give your name out even under the most heinous of tortures. Will we lads?"

"Course not!" Said Remus.

"Nay!" Said Sirius. He nudged Peter, who was still lying on top of him.

"Nay!" Muttered Peter.

"Just one more thing, ma'am," James said as he began pulling Peter off of Sirius. "Where exactly—?"

"Wait a moment," Remus interrupted, raising a hand, his eyes alert. "Do you hear that?"

Immediately, anxiety rose up in Sirius' throat. This was it then. Someone had heard Pettigrew and now found them and they'd be in trouble and their first adventure would have been ruined before it even started. He strained his ears to hear the sounds their approaching doomaker but all he discovered was silence.

"No," he said, still straining, as James pulled him off the ground.

"It's a skittering," said Remus. "Like claws on the floor."

Sirius sighed with relief. Oh was _that_ all he'd been scared for?

"Probably just somebody's cat," said Pettigrew, speaking clearly for the first time since his manly yelp of fear. (_Probably spent all that time trying to gather his few and frightened wits back up,_ Sirius thought.) "But I don't even hear it." Said Pettigrew, shrugging.

The fact that it was a _cat_ rang a warning bell somewhere in Sirius' mind but he shook the thought away. Instead, he shot Remus a glare because the other boy was suddenly far too engaged in listening to _cats _than he was in looking like the starving, desperate, pitiable boy they needed him to be. Remus caught the look and bent back over; hands on his stomach, moaning lightly, but his ears still twitched expectantly. Sirius rolled his eyes. Fine, so the kid had some nuances, a weird sense of hearing for instance; but luckily, the Fat Lady hadn't picked up on the sudden change of tone and had returned to James.

"Where exactly _are_ the kitchens?" James asked, before he flashed her a bright, winning smile. Sirius silently cursed him. They needed to get _away_, regardless of whether or not this was a great opportunity to eke out more information on the castle; after all, the kitchens had only been their excuse for the forage.

The Fat Lady crossed her arms at James.

"Do you really think I'll be giving you _all_ the answers?" She asked.

"_Please_," begged Remus, doubling over again. "We _need_ the kitchens."

_Alright_, Sirius thought, making the allowance,_ Keeping the lie going is needed to have it make sense._ Besides, what other _first_ year knew where the kitchens were as of Day One?

Or for that matter, what _seventh_ year?

It occurred to Sirius that this was, in fact, a rather _grand_ opportunity to eke out information on the castle and that they ought to get while the Fat Lady was giving.

She frowned, but there was more sympathy in it than frustration. A moment passed before,

"Oh alright!" She said, throwing her arms into the painted air. "I can't believe I'm doing this—I don't help just any student you know." The boys only looked up at her with shining, expectant eyes.

"The kitchens are directly under the Great Hall," she said. "Go to the entrance hall, turn left at the bottom of the stairs, and through the door..." She trailed off, looking like she feared regretting this.

"And...?" Sirius prompted, in the politest voice he possessed. "That can't be it."

"...There's a painting of a fruit bowl," she said quietly. "Tickle the pear and the door will appear."

"Thank you," said Remus earnestly, as he bowed to her. "Thank you a thousand times over!"

"_Grrooowwwlll!_" Sirius agreed from the corner of his mouth.

She rolled her eyes and waved to them as they hurried down the hall.

"I'll regret this," Sirius heard her mutter as they turned round the corner at the end of the corridor. "I know I will…"

They continued down this hallway for just a moment before,

"Hold up," said James suddenly, grabbing onto their jumpers. They all turned to face him.

"I want to first thank and praise Mr. Remus Lupin for his fan_tastic_, impromptu acting skills! That was bloody brilliant, mate!"

"Not as good as you, cozying up to the Fat Lady!" Said Pettigrew. "She was eating out of your hand there! I wouldn't be surprised if she lets you in on all sorts of other Hogwarts Easter eggs now."

"Trying to charm the girl out of her canvas, were you?" Sirius asked, drawing a laugh from both James and Pettigrew.

"Alright, alright," said Remus, though his face was still significantly rosy from James' compliments. "We really ought to keep it down now."

"Yeah," said Sirius, fixing Pettigrew with a look, "Somebody must have heard the lovely bit of shrieking there. Probably ought to get moving before anyone comes to check it out."

The shorter boy cowered.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "She surprised me is all. Can I get a do-over?"

"Nah," said James, "You're still fine, mate. Right?" He elbowed Sirius and gave him the entreating look from before. "Come on, you owe it to [_Peter_] to include him in [_forgiveness_.]"

Sirius glanced over the still-trembling lad and rolled his eyes. Okay _fine_, maybe he'd been a bit harsh on this one too. Even he could be bothersome when he'd just woken up. Plus, Pettigrew _had_ laughed at the charming-out-of-the-canvas joke…

"Yeah," he said, nudging Peter. "You're fine. Save that do-over for another time, alright? But we _really_ ought to get moving. Someone will be coming any moment now."

"Any moment..." Remus muttered mostly to himself, cocking his head as if he still heard that phantom cat. James apparently didn't hear him.

"Hang on," said James. "We need to talk this one through. Sirius did have a point here. If you're gonna join the club, Peter, you've gotta be quiet."

"_Club_?" said Peter hopefully.

"We had a club together already?" said a more confused Remus. But Sirius could detect a hint of the same hopefulness. He briefly wondered about those other two. James had obviously been charismatic and confident since birth—he, Remus, and Peter already seemed to defer to him—and Sirius knew that he himself had been a self-proclaimed, self-proud outcast all his life. He'd never much desired positive attention from those who were there to offer it.

Peter on the other hand; quiet, timid, and easily frightened; could easily be envisioned as a permanent butt monkey. Remus was the real puzzle then. He was a pretty damn decent bloke: (first ten minutes of being awake aside) clever, quick, and extremely alert to his surroundings. So why was he surprised about getting pulled into a group? There was that comment: _I was so nervous about trying to be accepted that I was simply too anxious to eat._ After all, many a truth is said in jest. Just how bad had it been for him before Hogwarts…?

Sirius shrugged. Didn't matter. He liked Remus and he liked James and Peter…was slowly growing on him. Any and all skeletons in the closet would be ignored. These three boys were _his_ now, surely as if he'd peed on them and marked them as territory.

With that satisfying thought in mind, Sirius returned his attention towards James, who was still directing Peter.

" Embrace the Gryffindor, but still follow our lead..."

"…Can't tell anybody about what we're up to…" Remus joined in.

"…No getting us caught…" Sirius included, though he was still anxious to get away from their current position.

"What happens if we _do_ get caught?" Peter said in a quiet voice.

"We won't." James promised him confidently. Honestly, was there anything this boy was even _partly_ unsure about?

"But what if we do?" Peter insisted. "You won't ditch me if that happens? Because at my old school, the Muggle kids were always leaving me out to dry."

"We won't leave you." Remus said solemnly.

"_Promise?_"

"Promise."

"Promise."

"Promise."

"All for one, and one for all!" James said, growing far too excited.

"Okay, okay, that's great, can we go now?" Sirius said anxiously, regrettably ruining the moment, but only because he had just heard Remus' not-so-phantom cat himself. It had occurred to him why those warning bells had gone off when Peter said it was a cat. At the feast, one of the older boys had been commiserating the fact that the school's caretaker and his personal feline had a horrible penchant for catching students out of bed and a further fetish for brutally punishing offenders. Apparently, the worst part about this duo was that they had an uncanny ability to locate one another within the castle the moment their opposite had found a rule-breaker.

"Calm down Sirius," said James. "It's just a cat." He pointed down the hallway in the direction they'd just come from, where the small animal could be seen staring at them, its tail twitching, eyes glowing.

"Yeah, but that means the other one is close by." Sirius said nervously, moving away from it and trying to drag the others with him by their clothes.

"What are you talking about?" Said Pettigrew. "It's just a cat."

"No, no," said Sirius, getting even antsier. "Her owner, the caretaker, he's coming. He's got to be coming. What's his name—Filth isn't it?

"That'd be _Mister_ _Fil__**ch**_ to you!" Said a growling voice from the shadows. Pettigrew let out another loud, terrified shriek and even Sirius jumped nearly a foot in the air as a wheezing, middle-aged man with a bulging eyes and thin, gray hair detached himself from the shadow of a suit of armor and stood behind his cat, which purred triumphantly at his feet.

"And you'll be getting used to me and my name very soon," Filch continued, to the growing horror of the boys. "Detentions on all of you! And who knows what Dumbledore will let me do with you four? Out of bed on the very first night." He looked down at the cat and addressed her. "We'll have to make examples out of em, won't we Mrs. Norris? Have to do something just _terrible_."

Sirius, quite panicked by now, glanced to James for help, and saw that look in his eyes again. The look that would convince Sirius to do anything, no matter stupid. He noticed that the two other boys had automatically turned to their leader as well.

James swallowed, eyes darted hopelessly about himself for assets, before he locked his eyes on the opposite end of the hallway. There was nothing else for it then.

"_Run!_" Cried James.

And they all ran.


End file.
